


How To Kiss A Patrick In 10 Days (Or Something Like It)

by MontyKarl



Category: Bandom, Fall Out Boy
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-02-06
Updated: 2012-02-06
Packaged: 2017-10-30 16:54:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,093
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/333956
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MontyKarl/pseuds/MontyKarl
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Pete decides that it is very important to his life that he kisses Patrick.</p>
            </blockquote>





	How To Kiss A Patrick In 10 Days (Or Something Like It)

**Day 1**

Pete walks out of the bathroom, teeth freshly brushed, flossed and mouth washed. The breath of an angel, mouth probably sweet and minty, perfect for kissing. He walks over to where Patrick's sitting on one of the two identical beds in their hotel room, eyes glued to his laptop, but Pete doesn't care, this time...this time he's got this. He slinks over, crawling onto the bed and curling himself close to Patrick, waiting for him to respond.

When he doesn't and Pete gets a little distracted by the waves of music bouncing on the screen before they pause and get edited, Pete realizes he has to make himself more known. Which he does by laying his head in Patrick's lap, on top of the keyboard of course, causing the music to close on the screen and Patrick's slightly upside down face to look like it's going to kill Pete. Not good.

"Sorry..." Pete mumbles fully apologetically, with just an edge of being flirty, he thinks this is going well. Patrick sighs and moves the laptop out from under Pete, setting it to the side before continuing repairing anything Pete messed up. Pete sighs and pouts, loudly, pulling a stray thread on Patrick's sweats until Patrick bats his hand away, and then. Oh...and then Patrick's attention is on him, the laptop saying Shutting Down, and Patrick's paying attention to Pete.

Pete sits up quickly, almost making Patrick jump before he scoots closer and leans in, and Patrick does jump a bit. Scooting away from with with an eyebrow raised. Pete just smiles lightly and leans back in, his perfectly minty clean breath ghosting over Patrick's lips before he is rudely shoved away as Patrick slides off of the bed to put his laptop up. Pete's thinking of a plan B.

His theory was, Patrick wouldn't kiss him because he only tried to do it when he'd just eaten a bag of flaming hot Cheetos, when he'd drank his own piss, the time he licked Dirty's foot for 20 bucks, point is...dirty mouths don't get kisses, especially not from other worldly creatures like the Patrick. So Pete's idea wasn't really correct, but the theory was still a good one, perhaps Patrick hadn't brushed his teeth yet and was insecure about this. Pete sprung into action, digging through Patrick's bag until he found his tooth brush and ran into the bathroom and used the mini-toothpaste that Pete had earlier, running a bit of water over the combination before going and finding Patrick looking at his bag and the contents of it that have been spread throughout the floor and then back up to Pete.

Pete who walks forward valiantly, extending Patrick's toothbrush to him, ready to go, and Patrick. Patrick takes it, and puts in inside his mouth and...punches Pete's arm really hard, and Pete doesn't cry because he's a big boy, and Patrick walks off to the bathroom brushing his teeth as planned. Then he slams the door, and stays in there awhile, and probably showers. SHOWERING, Pete thinks, how did he not think of showering? He smells like shit.

Pete tries to remember adding that to the list for next time. There will be a next time, so help him he won't stop until he gets to kiss Patrick. It's really that important to do.

**Day 2**

Early morning interview, coffee, more coffee, snuggles on the van ride to the radio station. Pete's a little behind schedule. The interview goes great, he talks about how amazing Patrick is and it makes him blush and Joe cuts him off to talk about guitars or something, which is uncool, so what if they asked him a question he wasn't finished. See, Pete showered that morning (standing in hot water until Patrick yells at you is considered showing) and brushed his teeth, and he knows Patrick showered and brushed his teeth recently, so now he was adding onto the list of things so he could ensure the perfect kiss. The new item was 'flatter Patrick'.

Again, going well mostly. Pete gets another, 'I don't know what I'd have done without him, probably be dead in a ditch somewhere...he's like my savior' in before they have to go play an acoustic set across town. On the ride there Pete's coffee induced brain tells him to continue his flattering. "Patrick..."

"Hmm?" Patrick's sitting behind him so he has to twist in his seat and that's cool because it's not like he's wearing a seatbelt anyway.

"Patrick, have I told you lately how your eyes shine with the light reflected off of your glasses?"

"Wha- Pete that doesn-"

"And how heavenly your voice sounds, even early in the morning when you kind of sound like Optimus Prime, it's kinda sexy."

"I'm gonna....talk to Charlie now."

"But Patrick, I didn't get to the part where I tell you that your hair looks like kittens playing in the su-" And Pete doesn't get to tell Patrick because the driver hits a bump or a grate or a squirrel or some shit and Pete falls backwards and sideways and ends up licking Dirty's foot again.

The rest of the day is hectic and busy and Patrick manages to be off doing something else when Pete isn't and vice versa. And he doesn't play well on purpose, but Patrick doesn't even call him out on it like he usually does. Andy does though and it kind of makes him even more sad but whatever. Fuck Andy. He's a drummer, what does he know?

And fuck him twice for calling dibs on rooming with Patrick. It's not fair, it is a total dent in the plan. It's not like Pete's gonna give up though, there's always tomorrow.

**Day 3**

Pete manages to sweet talk (50 bucks and an autograph) the girl at the desk into giving him a spare key card to Patrick's room. He bathed, he brushed his teeth and he had Patrick's favorite coffee (the perfect temperature too) and a donut and he planned on the whole flattering thing no matter how scary early morning Patrick looks.

He walks in, balancing the coffee and the donut carefully, and shuts the door quietly because Andy is a bitch in the morning. He looks and sees Patrick's glasses on the bedside table and tiptoes over, setting the coffee and donut down, settling softly onto the bed behind the sleeping Patrick. He sees a tuft of hair sticking out from under the blanket bundle and smiles a bit, leaning over, painfully restraining himself from kissing his neck before Patrick wakes up, and whispers, "Good morning my love.", before the mandatory snuggle against his neck.

"Pete?" And Pete freezes a bit, because...."Pete what the fuck are you doing?"

"Andy?"

"Yup."

"Uhhh..." Pete doesn't move from where he's basically spooning Andy.

"That coffee better be for fucking waking me up, and it better fucking be soy." Pete mentally groans and hears Patrick shuffling awake and padding towards the bathroom, the light flicking on, oblivious to the rest of the world.

"You can have the donut too if you want."

"Just fucking get out of here before I kill you."

"Yep." And Pete jumps up and practically runs out of the room.  
____

Patrick walks out of the bathroom a few seconds later and glances at Andy who's sitting up and sniffing tentatively at the coffee Pete had left. "Where'd you get that?"

Andy shrugs, "You can have it, I don't like caramel."

"Ooh, my favorite." Patrick smiles and steals the cup before Andy can change his mind.  
_____

Pete stands outside in the hall repeatedly banging his head against a framed painting of a lake because it hurt less than the wall next to it.

"Pete...." Pete turns around to see Charlie standing there looking confusedly at his watch, "It's not even 9am yet, you know that right?"

"Uhhuh..."

"You already woke Patrick and Andy?"

"Uhhuh." Charlie looks a bit astonished.

"And he's still alive.... Go ahead and tell them that we actually have to get to the venue early to talk about stage arrangement, okay?"

"Uhhuh." Charlie nods and walks off, and Pete's head hurts and he goes to look for Aspirin.  
______

They're late, by like a lot, everyone blames Pete but it's not his fault. It's like one fourteenth his fault because Andy and Patrick were the only people who weren't on the same page, and that barely counts. Joe argues that it's one half of the goddamn band and counts quite a lot, Pete wants Joe to go fall on his head. Joe actually does later when he walks off of the stage backwards and Pete feels bad, but at least he has extra Aspirin on him.

Patrick ducks around him shly almost, and it's confusing and Pete forgot to flatter Patrick earlier. Which doesn't help explain Patrick's slight shyness, and then when Pete tries to go and tell Patrick 'that his blue Lego shirt makes him look super hot' Patrick looks at him and walks the other direction, quickly. Pete thinks maybe it wasn't shyness after all, but avoiding Pete isn't something Patrick would do, because that's mean.  
______

After a few hours (of whining) at the venue they all get 'two hours and 45 minutes of free time, 'Go crazy, but don't really Pete I swear to god, don't forget we got a tech who can play your parts'. Pete corners Patrick and asks him out to lunch, which Patrick accepts because they were all actually going out to lunch, but Patrick said yes to Pete special so it's like a date.

Pete tries to hold his hand at the booth and Patrick lets him until their food gets there. Pete keeps trying to feed Patrick and after a few awkward french fries up noses Patrick gives in, sort of. Pete considers this a breakthrough.  
______

At sound check Pete let's Brian tune for him, and it gives Pete a chance to stand offstage in front of Patrick and smile and cheer at him, which gets him flipped off twice and once he gets a smile but that might have been the weird way Patrick holds his mouth when he sings, but it doesn't matter, he got smiled at. Of course Dirty had to pick today to find a mini-motorcycle backstage and Pete had to make a split decision to watch Dirty ride down the sidewalk on it and miss Patrick doing whatever else he does really...  
______

He has to actually warm up in the hour before they go on because he owes it to the fans not to let kissing Patrick get in the way of his awesome bass playing, when hey....Why should it get in the way? Why can't they go hand in hand?

After Pete's usual banter, with added Patrick love, he attempts to just...y'know to run across the stage and kiss Patrick while still playing. He got pretty close too, during their cover of Mr.Brightside. So, so close and Patrick flinched away and Pete tried to smile it off, whatever.

Later Patrick asked him why the hell he tried to kiss him on stage in front of like at least a thousand camera phones. Pete shrugged and ran off to shower because he smelled weird, and he was slipping on his list of things needed for Patrick kisses. It was like juggling, and Pete doesn't like juggling, or clowns but that's not the point.

Pete had learned something though, Patrick doesn't like PDA, which Pete can live with. So he has to be clean, Patrick has to be clean, he has to flatter Patrick until hand holding and blushing occur and then it also has to be in a private area. Which wouldn't be a problem if they weren't back on the buses, but they were.

Pete thought that the universe was being totally lame and needed to stop for a minute so he could kiss his Patrick.

**Day 4**

They're in a town with a name Pete can't pronounce, or he can pronounce it but he doesn't want to because they spelled it wrong. Whatever, the point is, he's part of an enlightening conversation with Korean Tom Cruise and Patrick about something that sounds important, but he's mostly just nodding and agreeing with Patrick. Actually, he's just waiting for KTC to go away so he can show Patrick the storage room that has a couch in it (the universe is obviously starting to pay attention), but then Patrick walks away with him and Pete is standing there confused and ignored and it's really uncool.

He finds Patrick walking down one of the corridors a few minutes later when Pete's decided to just check out the rest of the venue, and the best part is; Patrick is alone. Pete smirks and approaches him, blocking his path, "Hey there."

"Hello Pete, I need to go that way now." Patrick points past Pete, but he doesn't budge. Pete's trying to figure out how to get Patrick to go find that room with the couch when Patrick somehow steps around him and keeps going, it's shocking really. Pete runs after him and stops him again, lightly pulling his arm. Patrick huffs and turns around, face to face with Pete, and Pete can't stop smiling.

"Hey there." Pete repeats, Patrick looks a little wary. Pete scuffles a bit closer and wraps his arms around Patrick's neck and not in a 'I'm hugging you' way but in a 'I'm totally going to kiss you' way. Then Patrick starts leaning in too, his arms sliding around Pete's waist, and....and he hugs him. Head on his shoulder, holding him close, and not to say Pete isn't completely awesome with the hug (it's a hug from Patrick, it's the best kind), but it wasn't the expected result. Pete has to do something about that quick.

"Patrick I wanna show you the couch room." Pete whispers, he doesn't know why he whispers it, and the creepy factor goes up as Patrick pulls away with an odd look.

"Pete, are you alright?"

"Yes, very okay." Pete replies quickly, nodding. Patrick doesn't look convinced.

"I'm gonna-"

"No!" Pete grabs Patrick's arm again and tries to pull him down the hall, but Patrick doesn't budge.

"Pete, really are you okay?" Pete groans at the sincerity in Patrick's voice.

"I'll be fine if you just come to the couch room." Patrick just stares at him as Pete tries to pull him again, he gets Patrick to take a step before he pulls his arm away.

"Pete-"

"Dammit just come with me!" Pete yells frustratedly, it really shouldn't be this damn hard to convince Patrick. Patrick who is standing there and just staring at him, looking a bit shocked. Someone pokes their head out of the dressing room door, looking around to see them standing there and they say, "You guys, 45 minutes 'til you're on."

"I have to go warm up, shit." Patrick walks off into the room looking flustered. Pete sinks to the floor and pouts as the door shuts and echoes in the hall. The show goes about the same way.

**Day 5**

Pete woke up late, and the coffee tasted burnt, and Joe ate the rest of his Reese's Puffs and he was just about ready to cry when his straightener either was broken or the wall socket was and on top of it all they had two interviews before their scheduled show. Pete was having a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day, and everyone knew it. He didn't even say anything or pout that much, that's how bad it was, everyone just innately knew.

Patrick was really shifty around him too, like he expected Pete to manhandle and yell at him again which in hindsight wasn't the best way to get kisses either.

The rest of the day went accordingly: interview where Pete says 'fuck' live on air and the station almost kills him because apparently they're a clean station, the next interview Pete ends up telling a tour story and everything is going well until he realizes he just said that Joe smoked weed on air (and everyone already knows) and they laugh it off but Joe looks like he's gonna kill Pete a lot too. Pete breaks two strings onstage during sound check alone and the second one snaps and hits his cheek and it's not okay because he's bleeding and he tears up a bit.

But that's when Patrick comes to the rescue with a SpongeBob Band-Aid, putting it on for Pete and he looks like he's about to kiss Pete's cheek but stops, and it makes Pete's pout return. Which Patrick huffs at as he pulls Pete over to look at the new guitar strap he got, and Pete looks around for a second and even though they're on a stage, the audience is empty and the crew is on break.

"Hey Patrick?" Pete asks as he hops up to sit on an amp.

"Hmm?" Patrick looks over to Pete like he was distracted, he sits next to Pete on the low amp and Pete automatically scoots closer.

"Sorry, about yesterday."

"It's cool dude, have you been doing okay though? I mean..today seems like-"

"Yeah, no good, very bad day..." Pete sighs and looks at his shoes and kicks his feet, he almost doesn't notice Patrick scoot closer, or how Patrick's arm slides over his shoulder. He definitely notices the quick peck on his cheek, right on the Band-Aid depicting a fun day jellyfishing. Pete turns his head quickly, but not fast enough to catch Patrick's lips. Which is alright because Pete didn't brush his teeth that day anyway. Patrick just smiles a bit shly and pulls away, hopping up and saying, "Race you back to the dressing room, Joe told me earlier that we got fruit roll ups."

"No way!" Pete loves fruit roll ups. Patrick was jogging across the stage before Pete had even stood up, and well... Pete tripped on the way there, twice, but Patrick let him win AND eat the last fruit roll up.

The show that night was awesome and Patrick actually came over to lay his head on Pete's shoulder and Pete couldn't stop grinning. After the show Pete got to give him a sweaty hug but he was so exhausted that by the time he got back to his bus he actually fell asleep in the back lounge watching The O.C.

**Day 6**

Today, Pete finds out some very interesting things about Patrick in relation to kissing. They're at this 50s themed diner for lunch because someone suggested it to them and Pete's sitting there, telling an enthralling story about the time his brother broke his arm to get out of gym class, but the test was running so he was fucked both ways; when he saw Patrick casually put the stem to the cherry from his shake into his mouth. Pete's word stutter, watching Patrick from the corner of his eye and then out pops a fucking tied cherry stem that Patrick just sets on his napkin and goes back to drinking his shake. Pete didn't realize he'd stopped talking, he forgot what it was about anyway.

Pete doesn't say anything as he quietly slips away to the counter and asks for a cherry, getting one 'of course', from the cute girl working there, he gnaws the cherry off. quickly swallowing it before putting the stem in his mouth. He feels stupid, he's Pete Wentz, he should be able to do this. The stem he spits out is slightly bent and mostly just gnawed on, Pete huffs and goes to ask the girl for another when Patrick shows up and scares him. He only really jumps a little though, and knocks over the tip jar on the counter and makes the girl scream too. Pete apologizes quickly as well as Patrick.

Patrick, who notices belatedly that Pete was trying to tie a cherry stem in a knot and obviously failed. He smirks and says, "We gotta go in like 5 minutes." and then walks away.

Pete isn't sure if he hates his tongue or cherries more.  
_____

Right before the show that night (but after Pete asking Andy if you can exercise your tongue and getting a weird look and a 'Google it?'), Pete overhears Patrick talking about his first kiss. He hears about how his real first kiss was with with a friend's older sister and that he totally sucked at it of course, Pete bets it was better than he thinks. Everyone laughs and goes about telling their stories and Pete wanders off, fingering the notes on his bass and pretending he's not jealous of Stacy or Sarah or Samantha or whatever Patrick said her name was. Pete needs to step up is his game.

Well after the party that night, because Pete deserves a party and then he'll step up his game.

**Day 7**

Pete wakes up on the wrong bus, upside down, and with half a Twizzler in his pocket (which is cool because he is starving). The only other food he can find includes granola mix and vegan poptarts which keys him off to being in the wrong area of buses. The second thing that tips him off is a bleary eyed Patrick stumbling into the kitchenette, rubbing his eyes. It's kind of adorable, and Pete wants to kiss him and.... oh wait, isn't that the current point of Pete's life?

"Good morning." Pete greets with a cheery tone, Patrick blinks at him and rubs his eyes more and blinks again but then it's still Pete standing there. Patrick makes a slightly incoherent noise and shuffles forward again. "I can make coffee?"

Patrick stops and half smiles and nods, and Pete gets to work. Patrick leans against Pete as the coffee brews and Pete considers kissing him then, because they're alone and they might not have bathed or brushed their teeth but at least they both hadn't (probably) and Pete was making coffee and Patrick was sleepy and snuggly and probably open to suggestion. Pete shifts his shoulder and quietly says, "Hey."

Patrick stands up more, looking at Pete and 'hmm'ing, Pete turns just a bit more and slides his hand across Patrick cheek and sideburn into his hair and Patrick just kinda smiles at it, eyes mostly closed, and Pete leans in just a bit more, licking his own lips. He didn't think he'd feel this nervous, so he closes his eyes as the coffee machine lets out a few quiet beeps signaling that the brewing cycle is over and then... Patrick's not there.

Pete opens his eyes and looks at his hand (still in the air where Patrick's face should be) and for a moment he wonders if he was hallucinating or dreaming but he turns around to see Patrick behind him, pouring coffee. Pete might steal his cup and make Patrick pour another just because.  
______

Pete's head is a little off all day because they didn't have time for him to go to his own bus before they had to go do a signing at this local place that apparently keeps selling out of their new album. He used the excuse to steal one of Patrick's shirts, he was gonna get a hoodie too but Patrick took it from him and wore it that day, so really it's not that bad.

What is kinda bad is that some girl shows Pete a picture she drew of him and Patrick kissing, she thought it would be funny, Pete kinda wants to recreate it and see if that's what they'd look like. On the upside, it makes Patrick blush and stutter but he forgets to sign her CD. Pete signs it for both of them, she deserves it.

The show gets delayed a bit, which ends in playing Truth or Dare Dirty, which ends in playing Dare Dirty, which ends in a few bruises and a possible broken pinky toe. Alas the show goes on, it goes on and on and Pete feels a bit guilty for feeling bored, but he can't help it. Things get a bit better as they finish with Saturday and then at least Pete gets to jump into the crowd (albeit with security guard safety) and scream and it's kind of awesome as usual. He says his 'thank yous' and 'you're the best crowd' and then heads off stage, bumping into Patrick.

Patrick's got a towel on his head and just smiles at him, slinging an arm around his shoulder as they walk together. Pete thinks for a second that maybe he doesn't need to kiss Patrick, that he's perfectly fine with what they've got now (not that a little kiss would change anything, he reminds himself). Patrick lets the towel drop around his neck, turning his head towards Pete, arm still around his shoulder. Patrick's sweaty and he smells funky (or maybe that's Pete), but his eyes are shining and he bites his lip as he smiles at Pete. Pete thinks that he definitely has to kiss him, and of course Patrick pulls away and walks off and leaves Pete wondering what in the world he is doing with his life.

**Day 8**

Pete's parents come out for their show today, so Pete kind of forgets (totally doesn't forget at all) about kissing Patrick for a moment. He spends the day showing his parents around the buses and the venue and introducing them to new crew members and re-acquainting them with old ones. He gets chewed out about his new tattoo even though they don't really mean it, they just care.

He gets his dad involved in pranking Dirty, which is awesome. Dirty wouldn't have fallen for it otherwise. His mom scolds them both afterward, but watching Dirty walk around with paper plates glued to his hands and feet is pretty much worth it.

He sees Patrick around, but it almost feels like Patrick's avoiding him, or maybe Pete's avoiding Patrick, or maybe they're both just distracted: he's not sure.

Pete makes sure the show that night is great, because well... his parents are watching. He tries not to do anything too dangerous, only jumping once from the low amp. His mom's eyes still go wide, but it's kind of just amusing. He feels a bit reckless, like a teenager again, it always happens around his parents.

When Patrick's steps away from the mic, letting Joe rock his guitar solo, Pete skips over and leans on him for a second; his ear pressed to Patrick's pulse, hearing it pound. He hears that it pounds in time with his own, until his own skips a bit in it's rhythm. Patrick moves to sing the next chorus and Pete can't help leaving a quick press of a kiss to his neck before bouncing away again. Pete glances back when he hears Patrick sing the wrong words, and he almost kind of smirks at it.

When his parents have to leave, Pete almost cries, but he's a big boy now so he doesn't. He's almost super jealous when his mom kisses Patrick's cheek as she hugs him goodbye, and she notices her son's pout and comes over to hug and kiss him again, reminding him that she'll see him again soon. It's not exactly what he would have liked, but it's totally okay and it helps; that and watching Dirty hug his dad (paper plates having been mostly removed) was kind of hilarious.

Pete sleeps well that night, and before he drifts off he gets a weird feeling that tomorrow will be a good day.

**Day 9**

Today Pete decides he is going to really, for real, fucking finally kiss Patrick. If he doesn't do it today, he just won't, he'll give up. Today however, he is stepping his game up. Today he was up early, he bathed, he brushed his teeth, he called Andy to remind him to make Patrick do the same (which he will make Patrick do because Andy is really a good friend and wouldn't want his friends to be smelly and unfresh anyway). Pete was flattering, but not to an extent that made Patrick glare him, he let Patrick take the important questions during their phone interview later (by important, Pete means about the music and he would have let Patrick answer those anyway, but still). The rest of the day and tomorrow are free due to scheduling errors that Pete shouldn't be, but couldn't be happier about, so that means the universe is paying attention.

All of these things, and Patrick is smiling and being happy and he even told Pete that he liked the shirt he was wearing. Pete knew it was Patrick's favorite shirt on him but he wasn't going to say anything and ruin it.

But then comes the problem of getting Patrick alone. With three busses, a couple vans, a trailer and everywhere in town, it shouldn't really be that hard, but everyone's bored so they follow everyone else around. Like; Pete asked Patrick out to lunch and then Joe wanted to go and then Charlie said he had to go with them because he's their bodyguard or some shit and they had to be safe. Pete didn't pout though, he made jokes and told stories and let Patrick tell stories and laughed at his jokes and paid for the meal whether he liked it or not, because Pete is just a gentleman like that.

There was a moment at lunch, sitting at the Taco Bell, eating chalupas when Patrick got sauce on his cheek because Mexican fast food is drippy. Pete leaned in and licked it without thinking, and everyone kind of went quiet until Patrick started laughing and wiped at the spot with a paper napkin and said, 'dude, gross' and Pete tried to play it off cool. Although, his brain now thinks that Patrick tastes like Mild Sauce, but that's okay.

What's even kind of better is that later in the afternoon, while Pete's throwing pieces of paper he found at Dirty or trying to get them to stick in Joe's hair, Patrick reaches over and brushes Pete's bangs out of his eyes. Pete turns toward him, Patrick fingers lingering around his forehead and his heart speeds up, his brain going into overdrive. Pete couldn't believe that Patrick might be about to kiss him or...or he was just annoyed with Pete's bangs and he moves his hand away and mutters something about Pete needing a trim soon. Pete tries really, really hard not to be sad, leaning on Patrick and tossing a paper ball that gets stuck in Joe's hair helps.  
________

The rest of the day Pete keeps trying to get Patrick alone, nonchalantly of course. It keeps happening, but right when Pete is about to make a move, someone shows up and ruins the mood (Dirty throwing toast at Pete for some fucking reason, God like what did he ever do to Dirty?) or asks for Patrick to come with them to check something out or Pete to go clean up the paper in the lounge because it could be a fire hazard (that one makes Pete scoff until he remembers that they had to have a 'no fireworks on the bus' rule and yeah, fire hazard).

So really, Pete's plan is all but coming together and simultaneously falling apart at the seams as the sun sets and Patrick is decidedly tired and wants to sleep early. Pete follows him to his bus, which is surprisingly empty and Pete's brain starts up again and so does his heart but he keeps his cool.

"Pete, you don't have to follow me around like a puppy, seriously, I'm gonna go to bed anyway."

"Yeah hey, we could like watch a movie or something and wind down together?" Patrick glances at Pete for a second before shrugging and almost yawning and saying, "Cool."

Pete tries not to grin creepily as they go to the lounge and turn on the Xbox to find that Andy had some nature DVD in it about Planet Earth, Patrick says it's actually pretty cool. So they sit and watch it for a bit before Pete kind of let's his hand rest on Patrick's knee, and it's warm and nice and Patrick doesn't say anything, Pete keeps his gaze on the screen just in case.

He scoots just a bit, until their shoulders and thighs are touching, his heart picking up just a bit when he feels Patrick lean his head against his shoulder. He licks his lips and closes his eyes for a second, trying to keep his breathing calm before he speaks, "Patrick, I...I just really....I really want to..."

Pete can't really finish his sentence, and he finds it odd that Patrick's not cutting him off with something like 'What Pete?' or 'Can you get to the point?' and Pete finally glances at Patrick. Patrick's asleep, drooling on his hoodie and Pete really should have guessed it. He lets Patrick sleep until the DVD stops and then he wakes him up and says goodnight before getting up to head to his own bus.

"Hey, Pete?" Pete stops and turns back to Patrick, who's stretching a bit as he stands to go to his bunk.

"Yeah?" Patrick blinks for a second and then glances down in thought, biting his lip and Pete's heart kind of stutters. Patrick finally looks back up to reply.

"I-" But whatever Patrick was going to say is cut off when Andy walks onto the bus, yelling back outside at someone and Patrick just shrugs and finishes, "Goodnight."

Pete nods and passes Andy to go back to his bus for the night, he doesn't really sleep much.

**Day 10**

Pete wakes up from the two hours of sleep he got, his iPod still running in his ears. He gets up and pulls a hoodie on before padding to make coffee. It's not really early, but it's early enough to know that no one else is awake. Pete gets dressed while the coffee brews, not realizing until he pours the first cup that he's dressed completely in black, head to toe. Subconsciously in mourning he supposes.

He feels completely bored by the time the coffee buzz kicks in and he takes to writing down things he needs to do, lists and stuff, but when he accidentally writes 'kiss Patrick' he sighs and crumples the paper, throwing it somewhere across the room. He gets online for a bit, checks his email, tweets a bit...well a lot, the fans seem to be pretty amused by it. He even remembers to answer some questions on the fobrock q&a. After about an hour Joe gets up and complains loudly that Pete drank all the coffee and now they're out and accuses him of eating his Coco Crispies (which isn't fair because Joe finished those days ago and then ate Pete's cereal too). Joe wakes everyone else up on the bus by being loud, the day has started.

Pete suffers through until lunch by staying cooped up in the back lounge with headphones on, watching movies on his laptop. Then people want him to do things, like eat, and leave the bus, which is ridiculous. They end up at some vegan place because Pete wasn't there when Andy suggested a place to eat to get everyone to out vote him so they could just go to Taco Bell again. Vegan tacos aren't the same.

Pete just stays quiet though, eats slow, doesn't talk much, tries not to look at Patrick. Tries not to smile at him or something, there's no point today. After lunch, Pete resumes his sulking in the lounge, everyone else opts to go find a mini-golf place or possibly a bowling alley, Pete's heart just really isn't in it today.

He's just started watching The Goonies when he feels the seat next to him dip, and when he looks up Patrick's glancing at his screen, watching the credits in the silence of the bus. Pete unplugs his headphones and let's Patrick watch with him. They quote it and laugh and joke around and Pete's almost sad when the movie ends.

"Wanna watch something else?" Pete asks, clicking around.

"Not...maybe." Patrick replies, and Pete sets his laptop aside, shifting to turn towards Patrick, and Patrick looks kind of sad.

"What's wrong?"

"That's what I meant to ask you."

"Oh...nothing dude, I'm great."

"You passed up mini-golf, you are not great." Pete huffs in response, putting on a probably unnecessary air of indignity.

"Just because I passed that up doesn't mean I'm not perfectly fine."

"Okay, fine...." Patrick settles, "But...I mean, you've been weird for like a week now, you sure nothing's wrong?"

"Yeah, it's cool."

"Oh...alright then..." Patrick trails off into the silence for a moment before adding, "So making me brush my teeth a lot, trying to show me a random room with a couch and sulking around aren't things that are... y'know wrong?"

"There is nothing wrong with making you brush your teeth." Pete counters.

"You called Andy at 8am and told him to make me brush them, that's a little weird."

"Little bit...yeah..." Pete frowned, he thought he was being normal and not weird that day, but that is probably a weird thing, he'll agree.

"And now you're frowning again, Pete just tell me what's up."

"Nothing is what's up, okay?"

"Pete." Pete glances up to Patrick to see his stern gaze and Pete's heart does something weird when he decides to just tell Patrick, because why not, he's given up now, it can't really hurt.

"Okay....okay...." Pete let out a breath and looks away before starting, "So I decided that I really wanted to kiss you-And before you say anything listen okay because....I had this great plan, I thought you didn't want to kiss me before because I hadn't brushed my teeth, but then you still didn't, so I thought maybe you thought you needed to brush yours? Anyway, then I realized I should probably also be clean and not smell like a sack of old potatoes, and then I realized that flattering you might help-"

"Is that why you-"

"Yeah, probably and then I think I went too far when I decided to just wing it and kiss you on stage, but you don't like PDA obviously-"

"Well not in front of 2500 peo-"

"So then I tried to get you alone and I was like really creepy and forceful and I'm so fucking sorry, and yesterday I decided if I didn't kiss you then I wasn't ever going to, and you...you fell asleep, so....so now I don't want to kiss you I guess and I'm...I'm sorry I'm so weird."

"Pete..." Patrick paused, seemingly at a loss for words and Pete expected him to tell him he was stupid or something, "You're so stupid..." There it is, "...but I like that you're weird....it makes you Pete and I mean.....I can't believe anyone would go through that kind of trouble to kiss me..." There a playful edge to Patrick's voice, almost laughing at the end.

"But Pete....I mean....did it ever occur to you that maybe I just didn't want to kiss you?" That...well that really hurt and Pete didn't expect that at all. He didn't mean to glance at Patrick with his hurt expression, and he didn't expect Patrick's bemused one to turn to concern. "No, hey...not that I'm sure you don't kiss well or something, but I mean...I mean you're Pete, dude."

Pete nods, swallowing the lump in his throat, Patrick notices and his face falls even more and he glances around like he's looking for something to distract Pete. That's when something really weird happens. That's when Patrick scoots closer and slides his hand around the back of Pete's neck and gnaws on his lip a little nervously. That's when Patrick lets his eyes flutter closed and leans in and presses his lips against Pete's.

It's really light, and really unexpected, and Pete's eyes slip shut as quickly as he realized what's going on and he kisses back. Patrick keeps it slow but let's it deepen a bit, for just a moment, showing Pete what cherry stem tying consists of, before he pulls away. He leaves his hand around Pete's neck and Pete almost doesn't want to open his eyes, but he does.

"There...there okay, I kissed you and...and you kissed me and now you can stop being sad okay?" Pete's heart was hammering in his ears and he almost didn't catch what Patrick said, when he does he shakes his head. "No? Not okay? Was I that bad?"

Pete sighs heavily before replying, "No, you were...you're great actually, I just....I'm not gonna be happy now...I totally thought I would be..but..."

"But?" Patrick prompts, his hand sliding away from Pete.

"But now I'm gonna want to kiss you more than just then, and I don't know....it was a bad idea from the beginning really." Pete shrugs. Patrick blinks as he processes Pete's words.

"Well...well I don't see why you shouldn't be able to kiss me more..." He gets quieter and trails off by the end of his statement, and Pete bites his lip around the smile growing on his face. "Like, as long as we are alone and you've brushed your teeth and you don't overly flatter me until I want to hit you or something."

"O-okay." Pete replies, cursing himself mentally for stuttering and not being able to control his smile, "Can I kiss you again right now?"

Patrick opens him mouth to reply, but then just closes and nods lightly. Pete just grins wider, scooting closer, sliding his arms around Patrick's neck, getting to watch Patrick close his eyes in anticipation and Pete closes his too as he leans in.

Dirty bursts in with everyone else, loudly complaining about being banned from the only mini-golf course in Florida. He thinks he hears Patrick huff, but he can't stop smiling, he just buries his face against Patrick's neck, placing a soft kiss there, a promise for later maybe. Pete decides that that's the best way to kiss a Patrick (or something like it).


End file.
